Jodie Palumbo, NAWBO OC

We all have the same amount of time in the day. The same number of seconds, minutes, hours, weeks and months to plan and schedule what we like. The trick seems to be in finding balance between what we have, what we want, and keeping our priorities and values all in line at the same time.

A friend and I used to joke in our early thirties saying, “You can have it all! Just not at the same time!” Little did we know the true reality of such, as this was before children, law degree, building a business, divorce, custody battle, and fertility doctors. All while still managing to plant hundreds of bulbs in the garden in time for spring; shop and create culinary feasts for our men, friends and families; tend to dysfunctional visiting in-laws; research all curricular activities and summer programs to raise mini-geniuses able to get into Ivy League schools (for which we would need to work harder and longer to fund); and play chauffeur in the meantime, as well.

This does not take into account that, all the while, we are fortunate to be reminded daily of the aging process and attempting to defy gravity as well as reality. I do not know about you, but I have yet to find the magic cream and believe me … I have bought and tried them all! Where exactly does a woman find the time to nurture, run and grow a business, tend to family, and still make time for an occasional mental and physical tune up to keep her own engine running efficiently and with some sanity? This may be why the beauty and spa business flourishes on the never ending attempt to recapture and maintain our youth. There simply are not enough energy drinks made to assist us in getting it all done, going all the places we need to go, and then coming home as the soft, feminine mother and wife, ready to deal with a teenage daughter starting puberty and a man whose testosterone is dropping daily. Is this some kind of bad joke?

Somewhere our master planner up above did not plan this timing thing real well, or is watching us from above, laughing in the cheap entertainment. Who needs a TiVO when you hardly have the time to set the thing to program those shows you wish you could watch, or magazines you keep getting but never really read? Let’s face it. We live in a world where if you give a radio station 20 minutes … they give you the world's news! In the meantime … we are trying to make the news ladies, and keep our children out of the news.

Thank God for NAWBO, where I have found a place to give back and put my energy to good use, while sharing in the mutual connection and respect found only with like-minded professional women business owners that know how to share in the victory, acknowledge the challenges, and seek resolution and balance in the face of success.

When we were young we had no money and lots of time, sometimes even feeling “bored.” Now we may have money and no time. And boredom? Well, that is something we strive for … for about 3 minutes at the end of the day, as we put our head on the pillow and exhale that sigh of relief, sharing the same universal goal which is usually to know that, “I was enough. I made a difference. T-O-D-A-Y!”